1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus and a recording method.
2. Related Art
In the related art, a printing method which uses an ink jet recording system is executed by causing small droplets of ink to fly and be attached to a recording medium such as paper. Due to recent innovative progress in ink jet recording system techniques, ink jet recording apparatuses which use an ink jet recording system are used even in the field of high-definition image recording (image printing) in which photographic or off-set printing has been used up to now. For example, JP-A-2001-171154 discloses an ink jet recording apparatus where an array of nozzles is regulated in order to improve the image quality.
In ink jet recording apparatuses, when moisture and other volatile components which are included in the discharged ink evaporate, the viscosity of the ink increases (thickens). The thickened ink causes clogging in the nozzles and ink discharge defects are generated. In recent ink jet recording, in order to perform high-definition recording, the amounts of the ink droplets which are discharged are minute amounts of several pL, the diameter of the nozzles which discharge the ink is small, and the energy which is necessary for the ink discharge is also small. Since the nozzle diameter is small and the ink discharge energy is also small, nozzle clogging has a great influence on the ink discharging. In order to prevent ink from thickening due to the drying of the nozzles, ink jet recording apparatuses which are provided with a cap member have been proposed.
There are also cases where the cap member described above is used for a flushing operation or a suctioning operation which suctions ink of a recording head. However, in this case, a problem may occur where the ink is attached to an edge section of the cap member during flushing and the ink solidifies. As a result, there are cases where, without being able to sufficiently adhere the edge section of the cap member to the recording head, it is not possible to maintain negative pressure and defects occur in the operation of suctioning ink of the recording head. In addition, without being able to effectively seal the nozzles in a left-to-stand state, there is a problem in that the nozzles become dry.